''Be Still'' is an album by
Dave Douglas' Quintet with guest vocalist and guitarist
Aoife O'Donovan
Aoife O'Donovan ( , ; born November 18, 1982) is an American singer and Grammy award-winning songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer for the string band Crooked Still and she also co-founded the Grammy Award-winning female folk trio I'm ...
which was released in September 2012 on the
Greenleaf Music label. The album was released in response to the loss of his mother.
Reception
Thom Jurek for
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
states, "''Be Still'' is brimming with poetic elegance; but it is also adventurous in its graceful articulation of folk forms (jazz is one of them, after all), and possesses a creativity and musical sophistication that is above all, revelatory".
[ Writing for ]All About Jazz
''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...
, Glenn Astarita said "''Be Still'' is a significant entry into Douglas's hefty and multifarious discography. It's a beautiful production, brimming with memorable pieces that sustain recurring listens. Figuratively speaking, the program may be analogous to an elegantly wrapped gift waiting to be opened".[ ]PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
' Will Layman stated "With ''Be Still'', Dave Douglas seems to be standing both smack in the middle of American art—jazz, sure, but so much else as well—and slightly apart from it. He’s seeing connections and beauty where others might not. He’s making something that is mysterious but also ought to touch any listener who dares beyond the Top 40. It’s a great, great record".[
]
Track listing
# " Be Still My Soul" (Katharina Von Schlegel, Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...
) - 5:01
# "High On a Mountain" (Ola Belle Reed
Ola Belle Reed (August 18, 1916 – August 16, 2002) was an American folk singer, songwriter and banjo player.
Early life
Reed was born Ola Wave Campbell in the unincorporated town of Grassy Creek, Ashe County, North Carolina, to Arthur Camp ...
) - 2:37
# "God Be with You" (Jeremiah Rankin
Jeremiah Eames Rankin (January 2, 1828 – November 28, 1904) was an abolitionist, champion of the temperance movement, minister of Washington D.C.'s First Congregational Church, and correspondent with Frederick Douglass. In 1890 he was appoin ...
, William G. Tomer) - 5:00
# " Barbara Allen" (Traditional) - 4:22
# "This Is My Father's World
"This is My Father's World" is a Christian hymn written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock, a minister from New York, and published posthumously in 1901.
History
When Rev. Babcock lived in Lockport, New York, he took frequent walks along the Niagara ...
" (Maltbie Davenport Babcock
Maltbie Davenport Babcock (August 3, 1858 – May 18, 1901) was a noted American clergyman and writer of the 19th century. He authored the familiar hymn, ''This is My Father's World'', among others.
Early life
Babcock was born at Syracuse, Ne ...
) - 3:43
# "Going Somewhere with You" (Dave Douglas) - 5:23
# "Middle March" (Douglas) - 5:46
# "Living Streams" (Traditional) - 5:02
# "Whither Must I Wander?
"Whither Must I Wander" is a song composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams whose lyrics consist of a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson. The Stevenson poem, entitled ''Home no more home to me, whither must I wander?'', forms part of the collection of poems ...
" (Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
) - 5:59
Personnel
* Dave Douglas - trumpet
*Aoife O'Donovan
Aoife O'Donovan ( , ; born November 18, 1982) is an American singer and Grammy award-winning songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer for the string band Crooked Still and she also co-founded the Grammy Award-winning female folk trio I'm ...
– guitar, vocals
*Jon Irabagon
Jon Irabagon is a Filipino-American saxophonist, composer, and founder of Irabbagast Records.
Winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition and one of '' Time Outs "25 essential New York City jazz icons", Irabagon is known for the breadth ...
- tenor saxophone
* Matt Mitchell - piano
*Linda Oh
Linda May Han Oh (born 25 August 1984) is an Australian jazz bassist and composer.
Biography
Oh was raised in Western Australia. When she was 11, she started to play the clarinet and at the age of 13 bassoon. She went to Churchlands Senior Hi ...
- bass
*Rudy Royston - drums
References
{{Authority control
2012 albums
Dave Douglas (trumpeter) albums
Greenleaf Music albums